Jim Harbaugh Is Latest Target In 'Pure Michigan' Parody
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - There's a new Pure Michigan spoof out this week just in time for this weekend's big Michigan/Michigan State match-up.
This time, hilarious videographer John Kerfoot turns the spotlight on much-hyped U-M football coach Jim Harbaugh.
"The fall of Michigan..." the video begins. "It's not a season, but how the state spoke of their true football team."
"Over the past decade, the Wolverines have fallen on hard times. Their stadium has been so empty that the school's pride and joy has been the women's basketball team. But their spirit was never dead, and hope finally came with the return of the prodigal son, Jim Harbaugh. This crazy bastard has all of Ann Arbor fired up. He's got everybody in town looking stupid in khakis."
[Watch the video here. Note: Adult language]
Judging by the jokes, one might think Kerfoot's a Spartan. In reality, Kerfoot (who attended Wayne State) happens to be a pretty big U-M fan.
So why poke fun at Michigan?
"I grew up kind of a 'Walmart Wolverine' on Michigan football in the '80s, and Jim Harbaugh and all that stuff, so...I think when I got such a reaction first one on Michigan that I did — kind of making fun of them — it kind of made me, like, go a little harder at Michigan. Like, don't you have a sense of humor?"
Others targeted in Kerfoot's videos have ranged from the Lions and Tigers to Downriver and the Renaissance Festival.
In a live interview on WWJ Newsradio 950 Wednesday, Kerfoot was asked where he got the idea for these Pure Michigan parodies.
"It really started by accident," Kerfoot told WWJ's Jackie Paige. "I went over my parent's house to shoot my nephew — because I do video work and I wanted to just get some home video of my nephew. I felt like I never do that; I'm a bad uncle, you know."
"And nobody was there, so I started making a video about fish flies. And, I guess, shooting fish flies by yourself is something I guess a serial killer would do. It's pretty creepy."
That video about fish flies now has more than 648,000 views on YouTube. Some of Kerfoot's other Pure Michigan spoofs have well over a million.